St. Francis Xavier was born in Spain at the Xavier castle on 8th April 1506.
He was affectionately called " JASSU ". After completion
of preparatory studies in Spain, he joined the world renowned University
of Paris. The ambitious plans of his dreams to shine in the world over
as one of the most intellectual luminaries were thwarted by the famous
words of Jesus " what does it profit a man to gain the whole world
if he looses his own soul? " repeatedly sounded into his ears by
Ignatius de Loyola, one in all his room-mate, his friend, his disciple.
Once Francis Xavier was ordained as a priest along with
Ignatius de Loyola and four others, they together formed a Society of Jesus. They
served Jesus in poverty and chastity. They preached and nursed the sick
in the city. From Rome, through Lisbon, at the request of king of
Portugal, D,Joao III , chosen to go to remote East

and
nominated as Pontifical Nuncio by Pope Paul III himself, Francis
Xavier representing the Jesuits, landed in Goa, known as Rome of East
wherein he preferred the Royal Hospital as his residence and spent his
days nursing the sick and teaching them Christian doctrine. In the
college of St. Paul , Francis Xavier was both Rector and Professor
(Padre Mestre). He taught herein seminarians, natives of different
parts of Asia, and some of them later on, fruitfully preached the
Gospel to their brethren in local languages. He himself was however
longing to reach out to the distant souls who never had a chance to
listen to the message of Jesus. As such he came to be known as a
"traveling Priest" .
Much before he traveled to Japan, he studied Japanese
people and their religion. As he landed in Japan he learnt their
language and summarized Christian doctrine in Japanese language.
Latter on, King of Bungo, at Japanese island, appreciated Christian
doctrine so much so that abandoned his bonges and favored Francis as
well his friends. Francis Xavier knew went to be firm and stern,
specially to men in power, and tactfully he managed to set right the
irregularities created in his absence by the substitute Rector, Fr.
Antonio Gomes, that is much against the disciple of the Society of
Jesus, indigenous boys were expelled from the seminary and were
replace by the European youth. Also some European boys with out proper
instruction and education were absorbed in the Society of Jesus.
Francis Xavier dismissed Fr. Gomes of the onus of Rector and expelled
him from the Society. And Fr. Gasper Barzen was nominated as Rector.
The college of St. Paul in Goa under the new Rector and his
successors, little by little controlled 300 colleges with churches in
different parts of Asia.
Whichever mission he went to he organized the missionary
work with great zeal. He was as such, respected as a saintly priest,
besides in his missionary life, he cured dumb, he cured deaf, he even
resuscitated people and once also levitated himself whilst
distributing communion in the college of Goa. After this last visit to
Goa, to Cochin and Malacca missions, on his way to China he was held
up on the island of Sancian due to fever. He was there surrounded by
two lone people, the Indian servant Cristovao and a Chinese Antonio de
Santa Fe who sensing the life-death situation of Padre Mestre placed a
crucifix into the hands of dying Francis Xavier . There was no food,
no medicine. Early in the morning of 3rd December , 1552 Francis
Xavier closed his eyes forever in grace of Christ in a very modest hut
of branches and mud lumps.

The zeal of evangelization and arduous ship journeys had exhausted him
and consumed him at the young age of 46. He was buried in Sancian
island in a wooden coffin as they used to do in China. Pope Paul VI
beatified him and after a careful study of his life and his
apostolate, he was canonized by Pope Gregory XV on March 22nd, 1622.
Francis Xavier was however, accepted as a saint in his lifetime
itself. He was looked upon as glorious. In those days there was a
great craze for relics. Everyone wanted to possess relics which were supposed to be the link between
mortals and the supernatural so that several benefits would accrue to
the owner of relics. As such several people took pieces of the body or
vestments of the saint. During the very first exposition one person
bit off the fifth toe of right foot and took it as relic.

Prime Minister of Marques de Pombal during the kingdom of Dom Jose I
expelled the Jesuits and Bom Jesus church along with the Casa Professa
and body of the saint were controlled by the Archbishop. There was
fear that after the exit of Jesuits, the duplicate keys of the coffin
circulating among those staying in the Casa Professa could be utilized
to open the coffin and more pieces of the body could have been removed
as relics. There was charge against the Jesuits that the body of the
saint was no longer in Goa or that it had been replaced with another
body. So on February 10th to 12th of the year 1782 exposition was held
with the main reason of conducting a physical verification of the body
in order to discard the rumor that the body of the saint had been
carried away by the Jesuits and the body of the deceased canon Antonio
Gomes had been placed in the coffin.
The medical examination prior to the exposition and
subsequent medical examinations demonstrated the authenticity of body
of saint among other details, absence of right toe and absence of
right arm. The right arm was sent to Rome and the last toe of the
right foot has been missing since it was bitten off during the very
first exposition. He was buried in three different countries having
different climates and soil structures. The body defied decomposition
and putrefactions and also throughout the historical reports, it was
never recorded that the body was embalmed or that the body was
decomposed or that foul smell was emanating from the body. Thus body
defied the normal destiny of the mortals throughout the centuries and
not yet rumbled into dust.
The present Archbishop Raul Gonsalves then acting as apostolic
administrator of archdiocese of Goa and Daman expressed on the
occasion of exposition held from 23rd November 1974 to 5th January
1975, that " we cannot talk presently about an incorrupt
body but only of sacred relic of St. Francis Xavier. Francis Xavier
while living had requested that after his death the remains were to be
transferred to Goa.